AAR - West Front - Foretaste of Disaster

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AAR - West Front - Foretaste of Disaster - 8/6/2006 6:02:14 PM

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Sequel to earlier posted AARs:
(1) "And We Shall Stand"
(2) "Dortmund"

After getting up early to accompany the 7th Panzer Division on its move into Belgium, I was given orders to head south and accompany the 1st Panzer Division as it moved into Neufchateau. The German High Command was expecting some resistance there.

This meant a long and rather round-about route at night to get from Chabrehez to Arlon, where I would meet up with the attackers. Almost all of that trip meant going through occupied territory. This meant frequent road blocks with guards who had to check our papers and shine their flashlights into my eyes at every bridge and choke point in the country � precautions against the movement of enemy troops and, in particular, enemy saboteurs.

Our route took us to the capital of Luxembourg. The town was under martial law, meaning that any civilian found outside at night could be shot on sight. The streets were dark and deserted. A guard at the entrance to town told us of some hotels that the army had taken over; the paying customers having been rounded up and sent to other accommodations for the night.

It was not a good place to get some rest, particularly towards dawn when the army was starting to prepare for the day�s activities. Breakfast came early for most of the soldiers. There were also airplanes � both friendly and enemy � flying over the city. The enemy airplanes invited a response from the AA guns. A few poorly identified German airplanes suffered the same fate.

With the sun rising, I got our small group on its way. Private Hank Zimmer, my personal bodyguard, and my driver, Corporal Felix Taggart, slept with the vehicle to keep it safe. They were so soundly asleep when I arrived that I probably could have taken it from them without waking them. It did not matter. The vehicles were parked in a secure and guarded area. I would rather have them rested for the day than half-sleeping on the road. I sent them for a hot breakfast before we moved out.

From Arlon, we traveled on the main road northeast through Belgium for about twenty-five kilometers. There were two routes from this Arlon highway to Neufchateau, and the German army moved down both of them. Kampfgruppe Balck, consisting of two motorized rifle battalions and a panzer battalion with support units, moved in on the northern road. The smaller Kampfgruppe Kramer moved in on the southern route.

I chose to travel with the larger of the two groups.

We caught up with Kampfgrupe Balck in a valley northeast of Neufchateau. They were protected from prying enemy eyes, which gave Lt. Col. Balck an opportunity to organize his attack in relative safety.

The approach to town consisted of two roads � one on Balck�s right that approached Laherie from the north, and another road on his left that approached Leharie from the east. Between the two there was a forested hill.

Balck�s ordered 2nd/4 Recon Company and 5th Panzer Company II/1st Panzer Battalion to advance down the road on his right, and 4th Panzer Company II/1st Panzer Battalion to take the road on the left flank. His infantry, consisting of 1st and 2nd Motorized Rifle Companies I/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion and 1st/37 Engineer Company were to head through the forested hills between the two Panzer companies providing assistance as needed.

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Offaing - 8/6/2006 8:11:16 PM

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Kampfgroupe Kramer, south of us, engaged the enemy first. As they approached Neufchateau, they caught the sight of enemy units dug in on the hills south of their line of attack. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer needed to make a decision to move on to Neufchateau and leave his flank exposed, or to deal with the threat on his left.

He decided to do both.

He allowed the armored cars of 1st/4 Recon Company to continue west to take a look over Hill 518. From these heights his men would be looking down on the city. Once he saw what was ahead of him he could make more detailed plans.

They reached the edge of a hamlet called Offaing without incident and paused right on the edge of town. They waited until they had assembled all 11 armored cars belonging to the company. Then, with the eight PSW 222�s standing watch, the three PSW231 started to move slowly up the street among the buildings.

The fighting started as short string of shots from a rifle hitting the shell of one of the armored cars. Then, others started to fire. Somebody on the other side had broken fire discipline. The three armored cars picked their targets and called for reinforcements. They hit the enemy buildings with fire from their 20mm cannon and machine guns. Enemy bullets simply bounced off. Soon, the enemy grew frightened and started to run. Cautiously, 1st/4 Recon Company took up pursuit.

Just a few hundred meters further, the scouts looked out over the crest of their hill onto down the slopes that eventually led to Longlier and Neufchateau. The enemy infantry was in a full route down the hill, dropping packs and weapons as they went. 1st/4 Recon followed them down the hill with machinegun and cannon fire. A couple of minutes later, 2nd Panzer Company 1/1st Panzer Battalion took up positions on their right and started to fire their guns wherever the enemy seemed to be seeking shelter.

One of the uncomfortable thing about taking a town with a company of vehicles is that the enemy could remain hiding in the buildings indefinitely. To fully secure the town was the job of infantry. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer ordered 10th Motorcycle Rifle Company, III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion forward to take care of these duties.

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Casteaumont Station - 8/6/2006 8:22:38 PM

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In the mean time, to the left and a couple of kilometers behind 1st/4 Recon, the 1st Panzer Company 1/1st Panzer Battalion moved on the enemy to the South to push the enemy back and secure the left flank.

At the bottom of the hill there was a collection of buildings called Casteaumont Station. Observers had spotted enemy units down there. From the bottom of the valley they would be able to direct fire on the road that would support units such as 1st/4 Recon. So, 1st Company started down the hill. The tanks would stop from time to time to aim a few shots at known enemy positions and locations where the enemy might be trying to hide. It had no real tanks; but this did not mean that they could not do damage. If they did not see an infantry, they fired through the windows of buildings, at sheds, at vehicles, at anything the enemy could use for cover, while continuing to roll slowly forward.

Soon, observers saw enemy infantry leaving the buildings, heading west. The tanks rolled in and took over Cateaumont Station. There, they had orders to wait until infantry could be brought up to support them. 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion had been assigned this task.

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First Casualties - 8/12/2006 11:24:31 PM

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A few minutes later, I got news of our first casualties of the day. 4th Panzer Company, II/1st Panzer Battalion, Kampfgruppe Balck was approaching Laherie from the east as ordered. Its lead platoon had just gotten into a good position where they could look down the eastern slopes of the town. They were reporting what they saw, which was mostly a wide open stretch of ground up to the edge of the town, when one of the Panzer IB�s of I Platoon erupted in smoke and flame.

This set off a flurry of activity � soldiers shouting at others to try to discover where the shots were coming from. Another shot hit another of the Panzer IB tanks, but it bounced harmlessly away. Other shots missed entirely. Then they spotted the enemy. The gun fire was coming from prepared positions in a copse of trees on the far side of a few hundred meters of open grassland. An open charge could easily cost a few tanks.

The platoon commander ordered his tanks back, out of sight of the enemy guns. This simply allowed the enemy to switch targets. Its next shots came down on the 1st Motorcycle Company I/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion, which were just coming to the edge of the woods to the right of the tanks.

Another company from the I/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion had just arrived to join the battle. It was moving up on the tank company�s left flank. However, Lieutenant Colonel Balck was not interest in waiting to move in on the town of Laherie.

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The Edge of Laherie - 8/13/2006 12:00:51 AM

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The rest of Kampfgruppe Balck were on the northern edge of the town ready to move in. As was typical with any advance, there was some confusion over which group was going there. Local commanders saw things that Kampfgruppe commanders could not see on their maps. The 1st/37 Engineer Company was moving into the town slightly to the west of its original position. However, this was necessary to take care of the roadblocks and barriers that the 2nd/4 Recon Company was running into and an enemy fortification on the edge of town.

One of the platoons from the 1st/37 Engineer Company was running through a field of tanks when those tanks came under fire from enemy anti-tank guns located in the town. One enemy shell hit the side of a Panzer IIIF Tank and exploded, apparently taking down almost an entire engineering squad that was running by at the time. We had over a half-dozen soldiers laying in the grass. Slowly, they all got up again. Some were a bit worse for wear. One had a line of cuts down the right side of his face that was dripping blood. Others had new rips and tears in their uniform. However, the company commander declared that they were all fit for battle and ordered them to continue.

Their target was a set of improved positions on the north end of town, flanked by minefields. I was with Lt. Col. Balck, on top of one of the Panzer IIIF tanks, while he directed fire. We could not see what, if anything, occupied those positions. However, if they contained anti-tank guns (which they would have if I was using that position to defend the town), we were getting uncomfortably close.

To me, it appeared obvious. Some of the German soldiers near me were about to experience their last moments on earth. Some of them will simply wish that they had.

Lt. Col. Balck ordered the larger and better-armored tanks ahead first. He rode with them, to give them courage. Yet, the enemy remained hidden. We were almost on their doorstep, and still they did not fire. The rest of 5th Panzer Company II/1 Panzer Battalion came up to us.

On the west side of the trees, 2nd/4 Recon Company was heading into town along the main road. In addition to the fortifications that I could see, they reported some enemy soldiers in improved positions on the other side of the road. 2nd/4 Recon could see enemy units there, so they aimed their 20mm cannons in that direction. They reported that their guns were literally ripping apart the enemy defenses.

It was not until 2nd Mot. Rifle Company I/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion came up on our right side that we got a hint as to what awaited us. The enemy opened up on them with machinegun fire, from weapons that were sitting not to far away from our tanks. My prediction had proved accurate. I Platoon was approaching through an orchard on the edge of town when the enemy opened up. Several soldiers went down. The platoon commander grabbed up his dead and wounded and immediately retreated back up the hill. The rest of the company, however, moved ahead and took up positions.

We opened up with all of the tanks from 5th Panzer Company, but our shells pretty much just bounced off of the enemy defenses.However, the distraction allowed 1st/37 Engineer Co. to get in close. They opened up suppressing fire that had the enemy ducking for cover. We had the better part of three companies (one Panzer, one Recon, and one Engineer) on the doorstep of these fortifications. I did not expect them to last long.

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The Hamipre Plan - 8/13/2006 12:36:10 AM

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From Kampfgruppe Kramer, we were getting stories that the units at Cousteaumont Station had caught an enemy mortar battery in the open running west along the hillside south of town. Opening up with everything they had � tank fire from 1st Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion and small arms fire from 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion � they reported that the enemy unit had been eliminated.

From what I was hearing on the radio, Lieutenant Colonel Kramer was setting his sites on Hamipre, a hamlet about a kilometer east of our objective of Neufchateau. I suppose that it was not an entirely unreasonable option to take that town before moving on to the larger destination. Yet, it appeared to me that the position could be bypassed, and was not worth the cost of taking it. He could have gone around it, taken Longlier, joined forces with Kampfgruppe Balck, and taken the town with overwhelming strength. With Neufchateau in our hands, the enemy at Hamipre would have been cut off and could have been forced to surrender without a fight.

However, Kramer did not see it that way. He ordered his units at Cousteaumont Station to move west and move on the target, while his tank units held the high ground north of the hamlet and directed fire down upon it.

Until this point, we had been working with a disadvantage. Our artillery had not yet caught up with us. All we had were tanks and armored cars (with, at best, 37mm guns), and infantry. Kramer had called in an air strike against the enemy units around Hamipre. They did some damage. One squadron of Stukkas failed to find the correct target, but found some enemy tanks hiding in some trees. One of the tanks became a smoking ruin under the weight of a 250Kg bomb.

However, that was about to change. While I listened, Lieutenant Colonel Balck received a message that I/73 Artillery Battalion had caught up and were asking for instructions. Offaing ordered them to set up in the fields north of Offiang, where they would be of the most use across the largest possible area.

At Offiang, 10th Mot. Rifle Company III/1 Mot.Rifle Battalion had finally gotten to work clearing the town. Soldiers went quickly from house to house, rounding up the civilians, and putting them all inside of a barn where they would not be in the way. This is the town that 1st/4 Recon had gone through � chasing out enemy infantry, but was unable to secure the buildings themselves. That was a job for infantry. 10th Company was reporting no resistance.

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Entering Laherie - 8/13/2006 2:04:11 AM

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At Laherie, Lieutenant Colonel Balke ordered his units to take the town. Our first objective was the defenses north of town, and Balke rode his tanks into the fight.

At first the attack went poorly. Part of the attack required two platoons from 1st/37 Engineers to cross a stream called Vierre and attack the stronghold. As they struggled across the water, the enemy opened up with machine guns to devastating effect. Bodies fell into the water where whisps of blood like smoke started to spread across the stream. Soldiers stopped to help their friends, to drag them back into safety.

The engineers were getting supporting fire from their right, where the armored cars of 2nd/4th Recon fired on the enemy defenses that they could see.

Lieutenant Colonel Balke, as I said, rode his tanks right up to the edge of the enemy strongholds. He had his gunners point their guns into the enemy strongholds from point blank range, then fill the holes with fire from their 37mm and 20mm guns.

Eventually, some of the engineers started to climb up the south bank of the stream. Throwing satchel charges and grenades, they began to clear out the fortifications. From what I could see, only one machine-gun crew was able to pick up its weapon and leave out the back door. We captured or killed the rest.

At the same time, 2nd Mot. Rifle Company I/1 was moving up on our left. Their squads entered the town itself and started the laborious task of clearing buildings. Within minutes, they had the entire part of the town east of the river cleared of German soldiers.

They also had to deal with the fact that the enemy controlled the west side of a bridge that they needed to cross to get into town. This was not a serious problem; our units coming from the north were only a few hundred meters from this position and would capture it shortly. Yet, they did not need our help. They set up seven machine guns to fire on the enemy-held buildings. The high rate of fire of our machine guns tore the buildings apart. The rest of the squad captured the east side of the bridge where they could catch the enemy in a crossfire. Finally, a platoon from the 2st/37 Engineers that had been traveling with 2nd Company crossed the river upstream. They were there, in part, to clear the mines that blocked the north route into town. However, they did not hesitate to harass the enemy from this vantage point either. Eventually, the enemy gave up its position on the west side of the bridge. The whole northern approach to the town had been blown wide open.

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Cousteumont Patrol - 8/13/2006 2:28:28 AM

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At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Kramer had ordered his soldiers to fight their way to Hamipre.

The bulk of his attack force was at Costeaumont Station, organizing themselves for the attack. The infantry was taking its time getting into position. In addition to the 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion, they were reinforced by 2nd/37 Engineering Company. The slow movement of the infantry was stalling Colonel Kramer�s advance. He was starting to get nervous about making it to Neufchateau on schedule.

While his units were getting into position, the enemy sent an armed patrol against his left flank, approaching the station. At least, this was the best estimate as to why a few dozen enemy soldiers started down the hill south of the station. Kramer had originally ordered units into the area because he was concerned about the possibility of an enemy assault against his left flank. He expressed the hope that the sheer volume of the firepower that met this enemy patrol would convince the enemy that this door was not open.

Meanwhile, he had the Costeaumont Station group organize to start moving west to Hamipre.

At the same time, 10th Mot. Rifle Company, III/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion encountered its own surprise. It was approaching Hamipre by going around the south side of Hill 518, where it would secure the right flank of the Costeaumont Station group. Kramer did not expect to encounter any more enemy soldiers on his side of the valley floor. Yet, suddenly, the forward units from 10th Company found itself face to face with an enemy platoon hiding in the trees at the foot of the hill.

The enemy was not able to take advantage of the surprise it generated. Some enemy soldiers fired prematurely, allowing Major Wandel to get his platoons set up in a firing line. In the end, the enemy unit found itself in a poor position.

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RE: AAR - West Front - Foretaste of Disaster - 8/13/2006 7:18:42 AM

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Lieutenant Colonel Kramer�s charge towards Hamipre required going through a stack of enemy defenses east of that village. Kramer ordered an all-out assault, holding nothing back. He even added the newly arrived 3rd Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion to the attack force. This unit even had real tanks � eight Panzer Kampfwagen IVD with 75mm guns. However, they were delayed slightly and did not arrive with the rest of the unit.

Kramer had heard of units in entrenchments overlooking the road. He sent the 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion specifically to check them out. The company climbed part way up the slope at the far end of the valley then approached the enemy through the forest. The enemy saw him coming. They opened up with machine gun and small arms fire on 9th Company. The company started taking casualties. They ducked behind trees. While medics took care of the wounded the rest of the platoon started to return fire. It took a little bit of effort to establish fire discipline. However, soon the enemy was looking for cover.

1st Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion charged the gun emplacements. As expected, the enemy started to fire frantically at the charging tanks. The enemy infantry lost its nerve and fled, leaving the undefended guns behind. However, the guns were not impotent. One of them blew through the tread and wheel assembly on a Kampfwagen IB, sending it spinning. Then another shot ripped through the side and blew the top clean off of the machine.

However, the other tanks in that platoon were able to continue onward. They rushed forward to where they were standing muzzle to muzzle with the enemy guns and wiped them out. The improved positions were to become our new front line � whenever the infantry caught up with the tanks.

Our casualties were starting to mount. This was one of tanks that we would lose. The other one was just a few dozen yards from me in Laherie. I will get to that one later. In addition, I was counting approximately thirty casualties � killed and wounded. However, our casualties were scattered all along the battle lines. There was no sign that any part of our attack was getting badly mauled.

There was no slowing down. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer was convinced that if his attack stalled, this would give the enemy a chance to zero in its artillery. Kramer allowed no pause.

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Kampfgruppe Kramer Bloodied - 8/13/2006 9:05:42 PM

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The situation suddenly grew bloody for Lieutenant Colonel Kramer�s Kampfgruppe. It was obvious, when the tank platoons from 1st Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion rushed ahead to destroy the gun emplacements, that the tanks would be vulnerable. However, the guns were without any type of infantry support. If the enemy were allowed to move infantry in with those guns, it would have been much more difficult to flush the enemy out. So, Kramer had ordered the charge.

The problem is that the tanks, once they had forced the enemy out, could not position themselves without being vulnerable to shots either from their right or left. To their right, less then a kilometer away, the enemy had some more anti-tank guns in another improved position less than a kilometer away. To the right, the enemy infantry was still dug in. The 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion were and 2nd/37 Engineering Company were firing suppressing fire onto these units, so the tanks of 1st Company turned their armor against the enemy anti-tank guns.

However, they were not sufficiently suppressed. Their counter-fire against the 9th Motorcycle Company proved lethal � they were doing a better job of forcing our soldiers to keep their heads down than we were doing against them. In addition, a couple of enemy squads moved into position where they could fire on our tanks. They were able to claim two Panzer IIF tanks before our suppressing fire finally forced them out of their defenses.

Once they cleared out, Kramer sent 3rd Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion into the area of their stronghold to make sure the enemy never came back.

At that point we had a little luck. The forward tanks of 3rd Company noticed, hidden in the trees on the other side of the road, the signs of an enemy command post. They turned their guns from the retreating enemy infantry to the trailers and vehicles parked in the trees beyond � destroying most of the vehicles and sending the command staff scampering for cover.

At this point, 1st Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Regiment had been mauled, but it was still in the fight. 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 had taken about 20% casualties and needed some time to regroup. In the mean time, the attack force was facing the remnants of an enemy infantry company on the other side of a major highway.

They also had to deal with an enemy fortification on the approach to Hamipre, their objective. 10th Mot. Rifle Company III/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion was squaring off against them, and taking worse than they were giving as well. They had also suffered about 20 percent casualties.

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Street Fighting in Laherie - 8/16/2006 7:34:03 AM

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On our side of the war, at the Battle of Laherie, things were also getting bloody.

I mentioned that we had lost a Panzer IIF Tank. The enemy had built a substantial stronghold on the hills overlooking the southwest side of the town. The had a commanding view of the whole countryside, including 5th Panzer Company II/1st Panzer Battalion while we approached the town from the north. Their stronghold included anti-tank gun emplacements. While we were moving in on the town, one of their gun shells went into a tank on our left flank. I heard the explosion and turned, just in time to see the tank turret crash down onto the tank from what must have been a stunning height.

At this point, I should note how I consider it a curious oddity that those who edit film clips of battles � even those who do so for training purposes � match the sound of an explosion with the actual sight of it. When you see something blow up, at least on film, you hear it at the same time. In fact, a battle is much like a lightning storm. You can count the seconds between the flash of an explosion and the time you hear it, to determine how far away something is. It�s a great tool for determining the distance to an enemy artillery battery or enemy tanks. Even with tanks as close as III Platoon was to us, there was a lag between the time I saw the tank turret crash back down onto the top of the tank and the time I heard the crash.

Other than this, we were moving through the town well enough.

2nd Motorized Rifle Company I/1 Mot. Rifle Battalion had set up on hills on the right side of town. This game them as much of a command of the town as the enemy fortifications on the west side, even if it did not provide as much cover. Major Osterkamp, commander of I/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion, stayed with the company and directed fire. The soldiers actually destroyed enemy squads just across the Neufchateau River, clearing the way for our advance.

Our main obstacle was the enemy fortifications at the top of the hill on the west side of the river. Once we had this, we had control of the region. In order to help us get close, Lieutenant Colonel Balck ordered that smoke be put on and around the enemy positions. The next task was to get as close as we could to surrounding the position, then send in the engineers of 1st/37 Engineer Company to finish off the enemy.

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Control of Leharie - 8/19/2006 4:42:23 PM

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Lieutenant Colonel Balck ordered his troops to concentrate on isolating and then overrunning the enemy fortifications on the hill overlooking Laherie. 2nd/4 Recon Company had orders to hold the ground west of the enemy stronghold, while 4th Panzer Co. II/1 Panzer Battalion was given orders to go around to the south end.

Before closing in on the enemy, Balck ordered a smoke dropped on the enemy fortifications. Then he ordered his soldiers to move out. He had decided to use overwhelming force, focusing all of his units on the one enemy location. After the area was surrounded, he ordered his units to provide suppressing fire. 2nd/4 Recon, 4th Panzer Co., 2nd Mot. Rifle Co., and elements of 5th Panzer Co., all aimed their guns at enemy locations in the stronghold. The enemy was well dug in, and the best our guns could do was force the enemy to duck.

The smoke and the gunfire kept the enemy�s heads down, allowing 1st/37 Engineer and some Panzer IIF tanks belonging to 5th Panzer Company to get in among the strongholds and to start clearing the enemy out. 1st/37 Engineers had taken some casualties earlier in the day on entering the town and was starting to show signs of wear. The fighting proved tough. However, the enemy was surrounded and outgunned and soon forced to see the hopelessness of their situation and to surrender.

This, finally, gave us control of Laherie.

Lt. Colonel Balck allowed his soldiers to pause for a moment while he got out his maps and started to consider his plan to take the next town on his list � the town of Longlier � just three short kilometers to the south.

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Foothold in Longlier - 8/19/2006 6:05:11 PM

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While the bulk of Lieutenant Colonel Balck�s Kampfgruppe was attacking the stronghold at Laherie, he had ordered three of his companies into the hills northwest of Longlier to prepare for the attack of that city. These were the 1st Motorcycle and 3rd Motorized Rifle Companies of I/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion, and 6th Panzer Company II/1st Panzer Battalion.

As I had mentioned earlier, 6th Panzer Company had real tanks � eight Panzer IVD with 75mm guns.

These units met some resistance on the hills northeast of Longlier. An enemy platoon had occupied a point of land that gave him a command of the streets below. Our units came down upon him from above. Firing down on the enemy positions from across a small valley, 3rd Motorized Rifle Company was able to all but destroy the enemy units in short order, in spite of the cover of trees and breastworks.

With the road cleared, the tanks of 6th Panzer Company approached the edges of the town and laid down preparatory fire on the enemy positions on the edge of the city. They were surprised to report that the enemy there, as well, seemed to have packed up and ran off into the hills west of town. The 6th Panzer Company shifted its guns to chase the enemy units further away from their fortifications and up onto the slopes west of town.

The instant Colonel Balck heard of these developments he ordered one platoon from 4th Panzer Company. The company commander took his lead platoon, equipped with light Panzer IB tanks, into the area. They rode the tanks into and on the enemy fortifications without attracting a shot. With this, the rest of 4th Panzer Company rushed forward.

Colonel Balck now only needed to get some infantry forward to help the tanks to move into the town. It was a great prize that would make it easy for us to get our infantry up and into the town without crossing open ground under enemy fire.

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Kampfgruppe Kramer's Left Flank - 8/20/2006 5:28:11 AM

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Kampfgruppe Balck was having good success, but Kampfgruppe Kramer simply was not making much headway. Listening to their reports, they lost tank after tank after tank.

The main bulk of their force, heading from Cousteaumont Station to Hamipre, found itself stopped half-way to its target. The enemy had a fortified position between them and their destination, and a force off to their left that was too large to be ignored.

Colonel Kramer made the decision to delay the push to Hamipre long enough to deal with the force to his left. He ordered 2nd/37 Engineer Company, 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion, and 3rd Panzer Company I/1st Panzer Battalion to move south.

The enemy was concentrated in a farm complex just south of the road. We could tell they had mortars we estimated a company of infantry in the area. We were also dealing with a minefield on our left flank as we approached the complex, and barricades on the right. This made movement difficult.

9th Motorcycle Company was getting all chewed up. It needed to climb a hill to get into good firing position, and the enemy owned that position. They charged up once, advancing under fire. One of the platoons managed to get a foothold in the enemy positions. However, enemy fire drove our soldiers back down the hill. They took a moment to relax, then they charged up the hill again. This time, they made better progress. They drove the enemy back off of the hill and managed to take and hold the position. However, the attack exhausted them.

Meanwhile, below and to the west of the postion that 9th Motorcycle Company took, 3rd Panzer Battalion and 2/37th Engineers cautiously advanced across the street. An enemy machinegun nest tore through one of the engineering squads. It had taken a lot of casualties so far and was close to losing combat effectiveness. The Panzer IIF tanks of the 3rd Panzer Battalion managed to take them out.

3rd Panzer then brought its Panzer IVD tanks into the fight. They trained their guns on anything in farm complex that looked like it might hold an enemy position. They turned the farm house into a pile of rubble. Infantry can still hide in a pile of rubble, but the impression was that they were not in nearly as good a shape. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer reported that he would have them taken care of shortly and would be able to turn west on Hamipre again.

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Way Clear to Hemipre - 8/20/2006 6:28:32 AM

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That fortification between Kampfgruppe Kramer and Hamipre was not suffering from lack of attention. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer still had 10th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion and 1st Panzer Company I/1st Panzer Battalion taking it on. They buried the position with smoke, then headed up with the tanks.

Immediately, they lost two more Panzer IB. Even firing through the smoke, their anti-tank emplacements tore through the thin skins of two of the tanks and ripped them open. 1st Panzer Company was really taking a beating. It�s platoon of Panzer IIIF tanks was still intact. However, it had lost six Panzer IIF and two Panzer IB from the remaining three platoons. Five columns of smoke were rising from the ruined carcasses of its other tanks.

Major Wandel was in direct command of this operation. He decided that the enemy strength holding the fortifications did not look that great. Besides, he hated the idea of sitting around while the enemy lobbed artillery shells at him. He wanted to be on the move, so he ordered his soldiers to advance. He also ordered artillery down on the enemy positions, ending with a salvo of smoke shells to cover his advance.

He reported some measure of confidence when he saw enemy infantry abandon the fortifications. Some of the armored cars of 1st/4 Recon Company were nearby. He ordered them to fire so as to make sure that the retreating enemy infantry kept moving. In fact, one of the advantages that Major Wandel was able to report was that he was able to isolate the enemy fortifications through long-range fire from his vehicles on the hill � provided the armored cars did not get themselves destroyed.

1st Panzer Company moved ahead on the south side of the enemy formation in the hopes of cutting off any chance of retreat. Then 10th Motorized Rifle Company closed in on the defenses. The battle went easier than expected. 10th Motorized rifle Company cleared the enemy out of the fortifications within minutes and was setting the place up as their own.

This left no enemy defenses between Kampfgruppe Kramer and their destination of Hamipre.

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Taking the Middle Ground - 8/20/2006 11:13:04 PM

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Kampfgruppe Kramer also scored another victory in the hills to the northwest, where his units linked up with those of Kampgruppe Balck. The enemy had been holding a pillbox that blocked the that would have united the two units.
Lieutenant Colonel Kramer sent the 11th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion, backed up by 2nd Panzer Company I/1st Panzer Battalion to capture the enemy stronghold.

On its approach to the stronghold, 2nd Panzer Company suffered the loss of two of its Panzer IB tanks. These hits came at quite some distance from the stronghold, we had filled the area with smoke. Once the smoke landed, our tanks closed and the soldiers moved up to attack. The enemy opened up and got a few shots in. Three or four soldiers went down � I was listening in on the radio and lost track. Our soldiers jumped into the middle of the fortifications, where the weapons of choice were grenade, pistol, and bayonet.

11th Motorized Rifle Company quickly silenced the enemy guns and drove the infantry into retreat.

From these positions, 11th Motorized Rifle Company had command of the valley floor and could see the slopes on the other side � the slopes that protected the northern approach to Hamipre.

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Kampfgruppe Balck - 8/22/2006 5:36:13 AM

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I could tell that Lieutenant Colonel Balck was starting to gain some confidence in fighting a war. His advance through Laherie had gone as well as expected, and a lack of discipline among the enemy had given him a toehold in Longlier.

2nd/4 Recon Company: This unit had lead the way into Laherie, then became involved in the task of securing Kampfgruppe Balck�s right flank. A number of enemy units had retreated in that direction and, at any moment, could come out and threaten the rear of Lieutenant Colonel Balck�s advance.

1st/37 Engineer Company: This company had lost a handful of men taking a fortified position on the north side of Laherie, then managed to take the major fort overlooking the town without further casualties. After that, they too got destracted fighting enemy units on Kampfgruppe Balck�s right flank, which meant that they were not available to carry the fight into Longlier, where Balck was in sore need of engineers. He commanded the units forward as quickly as possible, and left the Recon Company to patrol the right flank.

II/1st Panzer Battalion. This battalion was made up of three companies that were lined up, side by side, on the north side of Longlier. 5th Company, on the right, had come upon Laherie from the east. They lost one Panzer IIF well to the east of town when they came across the first enemy defenses, and lost two more Panzer IIF when they approached the last enemy stronghold on the hill southwest of Laherie itself. 4th Panzer Company, coming up the center, lost a Panzer IB north of Laherie and a Panzer IIIF just as it was occupying the enemy fortifications on the north side of Longlier. 6th Panzer Company, with its eight Panzer IVD tanks, had not yet taken a loss.

2nd Motorized Rifle Company: This company was coming up with the tanks into the heart of Longlier. They had suffered 10% losses. Unfortunately, one of their squads had stayed behind in Laherie to help to secure the town. In truth, the platoon fell apart while it was crossing the river. The enemy had opened up on them from their fortifications overlooking the town to the southeast just as the platoon was running across open water. Some went into the river. The others retreated and scattered. The platoon leader was still back at Laherie trying to organize the platoon back into a fighting force.

1st and 3rd Motorized Rifle Company: These two units were moving up on the left flank of Kampfgruppe Balck as it headed south. There was a bank of trees ahead of them. After that, apparently, there was a stretch of open ground, a river, a forest, a hill, and then an enemy stronghold that overlooked the whole valley.

Lieutenant Colonel Balck decided that this strategic location was going to be his next target. He ordered 1st and 3rd Motorized Rifle Company, along with 6th Panzer Company, to take the fortification. In the mean time, the rest of his company was ordered to do what they could to clear the enemy out of the town of Longlier.

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Kampfgruppe Kramer - 8/25/2006 7:32:44 AM

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To the south and east of Kampfgruppe Balck, Kampfgruppe Kramer was approaching Neufchateau from the east. The enemy had two strongholds remaining between it and its destination � a small village of Hamipre and a rise between Hamipre and Neufchateau called �Neufchateau Hill.�

Lieutenant Colonel Kramer had been having a much more difficult time than Balck

1st Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion had suffered massive casualties. Its II Platoon of Panzer IIF tanks was down to one sole survivor, and its command platoon of Panzer IB tanks had only two vehicles left. It had lost most of its vehicles taking over an enemy stronghold just north of Sart. When the enemy appeared to pull out of some of its fortifications, Kramer ordered 1st Panzer Company forward to occupy the stronghold before the enemy had a chance to change his mind. This meant that, for a while, he was over-extended, and the enemy took advantage of the opportunity. 1st Panzer Company lost five tanks in the assault. They lost one more later taking the last stronghold blocking their way to Hamipre.

3rd Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion had just showed up to add its strength to the attack on Hamipre. It included eight Panzer IVD tanks. So far, none of them had been lost. These vehicles, with their 75mm guns, had a chance to make a significant contribution to the fight.

2nd/37 Engineer Company. This company has provided the bulk of the infantry support for the Panzer companies moving in north of Sart. The attack has inflicted some casualties on the company, but the unit still fought at over 85% of its original combat strength. It was just finishing up the job of clearing the area around Sart, at which point it would move in and begin the attack on Hamipre.

9th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion: This company protected the left flank of the attack on the enemy fortifications north of Sart. Operating mostly in the forest, they struggled to take the hill east of Sart. The enemy had put up a stiff resistance and the company had suffered about 25% casualties so far. It was a light company anyway, consisting of only three platoons. They did, however, have a solid hold on the left flank. They had taken quite a bit of damage, but they had given worse than they had taken.

10th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion. While the 9th Company protected the right flank of the Panzer assault north of Sart, the 10th Company held the left flank. When the job of taking Sart proved more difficult than exected, this unit got caught in the woods east of the enemy strongholds protecting Hamipre. The enemy had an opportunity to call down artillery and infantry fire from their fortifications. As a result, the company lost over 10% of its strength. It was still an effective military unit, however, and it had the protection of the enemy fortifications that it had overrun.

1st/4 Recon Company moved onto Hill 518, then stayed there. They were not involved in the main part of Lieutenant Colonel Kramer�s plans, which was across the valley to the south. They turned out to have mostly a defensive job � making sure that the enemy did not make an assault against the middle of the German lines. However, with elements of I/1 Panzer Battalion and III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion getting ready to move on Hamipre, 1st/4 Recon was getting ready to play its part.

2nd Panzer Company I/1 Panzer Battalion, plus 11th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion. 2nd Panzer Company held the pass between Hill 518 and Hill 526 at the start of the fighting. Their job, too, was to make sure that there was a line of communication between the two kampgruppes. However, once 11th Company showed up, Kramer felt that he had the strength to take out an enemy fortification that was causing him some headaches in the region. The decision to attack cost him two Panzer IB�s out of the command platoon for 2nd Panzer Company, and the infantry unit had taken about 5% casualties. However, they did take the fortification and silence the enemy anti guns that had been placed there. It was the last enemy stronghold on the east side of the valley.

Lieutenant Colonel Kramer�s next target, as I had mentioned, was the hamlet of Hamipre. However, even this attack had some problems. The enemy had the area covered with guns placed on Neufchateau Hill. Kramer was giving some thought to going after Neufchateau Hill first. By clearing it out, he could isolate Hamipre and take the area more easily. It was tempting, in part, because he had the 2nd/37Engineer Company nearby and protected by forest for the bulk of the way as it approached the nearest fortifications.

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Kramer Takes Hamipre - 8/27/2006 7:09:43 AM

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Lieutenant Colonel Kramer needed to take the town of Hamipre. Most of his units were east of the town. However, he faced three obstacles.

One of those obstacles was two enemy gun emplacements on the hills southwest of the town. If his tanks went straight for the city, their weak side armor would be exposed to the guns on the hill. Kramer called for 2/37 Engineering Company to come forward and take out the closest set of guns. They had proved their worth by taking out one of the tanks of 1st Panzer Company 1/1st Panzer Battalion. That company was really hurting by now, after losing the tanks earlier near Sart.

However, Kramer got lucky. The Panzer IVD tanks of 3rd Panzer Company 1/1st Panzer Battalion firing at one of the left-most of the enemy anti-tank batteries blew apart one enemy gun after another. A string of lucky shots and one of the two anti-tank batteries no longer existed. Kramer then had his guns move over to try to take out the second battery. That did not go so well; the tanks were too well dug in. However, they had been weakened.

10th Motorized Rifle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion, under the direct command of the Battalion commander Major Wandel had moved into the fortifications east of Hamipre. Even though they were taking a significant amount of fire, they were able to use the enemy improvements to their advantage and were not taking many additional casualties. From this vantage point they could fire on the enemy fortifications both in Hamipre itself and on Neufchateau Hill. In addition to their other weapons, they could train eight MG32s on the enemy positions, doing an effective job of at least forcing the enemy to duck.

With the enemy anti-tank guns at least suppressed, Kramer moved both 1st and 3rd Panzer Companies towards Hamipre. He was determined to move into the town. 1st Company focused on the enemy entrenchments in Hamipre itself, trying to drive the enemy out. In the mean time, the tanks of 3rd Company turned their turrets to the west to try to at least suppress the enemy guns.

They were not entirely successful. A Panzer IVD tank blew up in a column of smoke and fire. Kramer swore; the frustration of the battle was wearing on his nerves. He obviously knew that Kampfgruppe Balck was not doing as poorly. Either way, he ordered his tanks to keep moving.

1st Panzer Company edged its way up under the nose of the enemy entrenchments where it could focus its shots as well as possible. This range made its tanks vulnerable to the enemy machine guns and infantry-carried anti-tank weapons. Kramer aided the tanks by ordering its artillery to focus on Hamipre. He had a half-dozen batteries dropping shells on the town. 10th Motorized Rifle Company focused its guns on Hamipre, and 1st/4 Recon Company brought its armored cars down off of Hill 518 to close the noose around the town.

With all of this firepower, the enemy started to crack. The enemy on the south side of the town fell first. German guns, artillery, and tank shells just wore them down. Ultimately, the seven remaining Panzer IVD tanks were able to climb up the slope on the south side of town and move in among the buildings itself. The town belonged to us. There were still some enemy soldiers in fortifications north of the town. However, by now, they were virtually surrounded.

Kramer�s 9th Motorcycle Company III/1 Motorized Rifle Battalion was on its way to Hamipre to help hold the town. Between the two tank companies (1st and 34d), the armored cars of 1st/4 Recon, and 9th Motorcycle Company, Kramer was confident he would soon have control of his objective. He radioed back to command that they could expect him to have complete control of the town in just a few minutes.

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Balck Takes Longlier - 8/27/2006 3:58:00 PM

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Lieutenant Colonel Balck, in the mean time, was taking his Kampfgruppe into the town of Longlier.

He was starting to meet his first signs of serious resistance. The enemy had fortified a set of stone buildings in the center of town � fortifications that included anti-tank guns. Lieutenant Balck ordered his troops to move in and cut the enemy off, hoping that this would demoralize the enemy troops and convince them to give up.

Surrounding the enemy fortifications proved more difficult than expected. The enemy also had units in a factory on the west side of town and a stronghold south of the town. In addition, the units dug into the center of the town had at least one battery of anti-tank guns.

Lieutenant Colonel Balck was facing some of his first serious casualties of the war. 5th Panzer Company had orders to move around the west and south sides of the enemy. A tank cannot, at the same time, keep its well-armored nose facing two different directions at once. Therefore, Balck�s tank commanders had to decide whether to turn their nose in to face the enemy dug into the center of town and expose their rears to enemy guns outside the encirclement.

For a moment, there was fear that the encirclement would not hold. The enemy launched an attack against the western flank of 5th Panzer Company. A platoon of Panzer IIF tanks felt the strain of having enemy on both sides. Later, we would learn that the platoon leader thought that the enemy was trying to break out and he would soon have enemy coming at him at both sides; that explains why he ordered a retreat. However, the commander of III Platoon, consisting of four Panzer IIF tanks, felt no desire to run. He held firm, preventing the enemy from linking up.

The enemy also tried to break out to the south. There, the infantry managed to swarm one of the Panzer IIF tanks and blew it out. Lieutenant Colonel Balck had taken personal command of this spearhead and he insisted that the tanks hold their ground. They too held, and the enemy units holding out in the center of town had their fate sealed.

First, Lieutenant Colonel Balck brought in a sustained barrage of artillery. Through my binoculars, I saw stone buildings fall apart and turn into rubble. I t seemed unlikely that any enemy could survive in all of that.

However, when Balck ordered the attack, we discovered that there were more than a few survivors. The enemy anti-tank guns destroyed a Panzer IB and blew forced back one of the engineering companies. Our infantry and tanks met a curtain of enemy lead that ultimately stopped them in their tracks. Eventually, Balck called the attack off and told his units to take a break.

However, he was not done fighting. He ordered a second wave into the region. This wave included the eight Panzer IID of the 6th Panzer Company II/1st Panzer Battalion and infantry from the 2nd Motorized Rifle Company I/1. These people came from opposite directions, and not from the same direction as the first attack. As a result, they were able to catch a few enemy squads by surprise. After taking out a couple of squads, the rest came easy.

With the heart of Longlier in our hands, Balck could turn his attention to moving his units south to complete the capture of Longlier. He had enough firepower in the region to derive the enemy back.

Balck was able to radio in that the town of Longlier was, in fact, within his control, though the enemy still had a substantial control on the hills south of town. The area was not so secure that his units could relax. Besides, Neufchateau was still south of town. It was the ultimate target of this attack and it was still in enemy hands. Lieutenant Colonel Balck and Lieutenant Colonel Kramer started to make plans as to how best to take the town together.

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Aftermath - 9/3/2006 2:11:52 AM

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With the loss of Longlier and Hamipre, all effective defense of Neufchateau ended. There was still a lot of clearing up to do. I would estimate that it took another hour to take the town of Neufchateau itself, then one more hour to secure the area � sending patrols down the side roads to clear out the enemy and to set defenses against a possible counter attack.

Lieutenant Colonel Balck, however, did not live to see his victory.

I killed him.

It was obvious that, between Kramer and Balck, that Balck was the better leader. He was advancing far faster, and with fewer casualties, than Kramer. After capturing the town of Longlier, it took Lieutenant Colonel Balck only a few minutes to reorganize his Kampfgruppe and to order them south to take their next objective � the town of Neufchateau itself.

Balck was traveling with the 5th Panzer Company, pushing south out of Longlier, attempting to stay near Balck because this gave me the best information on what was happening in the battle.

We were about a kilometer south of Longlier when we were hit by an artillery barrage. Balck was one of those leaders who insisted on leading from the front. Therefore, he did not hide from the artillery. He had reported to me earlier that he will die when he dies, and there was no use being worried about it.

I, on the other hand, did not show the same bravery. When the shells started falling, I climbed down off of the tank to hide near the ground. However, before climbing down, I carefully placed a grenade behind Lieutenant Colonel Balck. A few seconds later, it went off. The soldiers would consider it just another explosion in the whole artillery barrage. The explosion proved lethal, splattering his back with shrapnel that cut through the base of his scull and his back.

Major Ondarza took over the Kampfgruppe. He turned out to be just as effective as Balck � if not more so.

Major Ondarza lead Kampfgruppe Balck to completely capture the town of Neufchateau even before Kampfgruppe Kramer even showed up. This was with a third of his unit detached. He had ordered 1st/37 Engineer Company, 4th Panzer Company, and 2nd Motorized Rifle Company off to the west to protect from an enemy attack coming from that direction. These three companies carried out an extended battle against a fairly sizable enemy force that still existed in that direction, and that had dug in quite well. They took only minimum casualties, but they were tied up through the entire battle to take Neufchateau.

Just south of the town, we had our only major tank battle. The enemy had met us there with a dozen H35 light tanks � comparable to our own Panzer II. We ended up destroying all of the tanks, at a loss of only one of our own. It was a completely lopsided fight. The 6th Panzer Company, with its Panzer IVD tanks, got around and onto the side of the enemy armor. The 5th Panzer Company came at them straight out of Neufchateau. The result was that the tanks from one of these two companies could always get a good shot into the wide and unprotected side of an enemy tank. In about a half an hour, twelve enemy tanks were smoldering heaps of metal � scrap, which the Germans would melt down and turn into German tanks.

Kampfgruppe Balck and Kampfgruppe Kramer were allowed to rest after their victory. Other units rode through to take the next destination. Kampfgruppe Balck moved into Longlier and Neufchateau itself, taking control of the town. Major Ondorza declared martial law and locked the towns up tight. He commandeered the best sleeping quarters for his troops and arranged for them to be fed. Through all of this, he maintained discipline.

When the numbers came in at the end of the day, we had killed or captured over 1,200 enemy combatants. We threw up fence in the field west of Hamipre and forced the enemy soldiers to sleep there.

We suffered about 150 soldiers dead, wounded, or missing. The wounded were rushed back to Arlon and Luxembourg. The dead, too, were prepared for a trip back home to be buried by their families.

By the end of the battle, some of the tank battalions were in bad shape and desperately in need of replacements. We had lost 19 tanks in the fight; -8xPzIB, -9xPzIIF, -1xPzIIIF, -1xPzIVD. Out of about 100 tanks that we started with, this was not an insignificant loss. All of our infantry units had also been bloodied.

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RE: Aftermath - 9/7/2006 5:44:39 PM

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